Praha = Gastronomical Euphoria

[Týnská Bar & Books]

Currently sitting in a dark little lounge lit by candlelight, eating olives and enjoying a glass of vintoski, lonesome [Týnská Bar & Books - Prague/New York]. This is my type of place - jazz music, dark mahogany, red walls, and shelf of books covering the wall behind me. All I think I have done in Praha is eat...eat and wander the streets. Whether alone or with company, I have tried to take as much advantage of the food this city has to offer. I have eaten at numerous swanky cafes with beautiful patios overlooking the Old Town Square, I have shared laughs at a restaurant on the top of a hill over looking the city, I have enjoyed Czech food in random side streets in front of various bohemian crystal shops, and of course frequented the many pastry, Trdelnik , and crepe kiosks. All I have to say is WOW....the food is amazing and the views make it even better!

[My solo lunch at a random cafe: caprese, goulash, bread/olive oil/balsamic vineger, finished off with a cafe latte and lemon sorbet]

[Eating yummy crepes for brekky]

This has to be one of the most beautiful European cities I have ever seen. It is so clean and safe - other than a smattering of obnoxious male attention, I have never felt safer! The people are friendly, the music is great, and the gothic architecture is divine. Every part of the city is beautiful, so you can literally just walk around and let yourself find new places to admire. Today was my last day in Praha and all I did is get lost (purposely). I walked around for about 10 hours, going wherever the cobblestone path took me. I saw random gardens, the Jewish Quarter, and of course a variety of trinket shops. I admired the stores full of garnet and amber (gem stones that the Czech Republic are known for), but alas I did not purchase any. This gives me yet another excuse to come back one day! I resisted getting a "I heart Prague" shirt, mostly because I am hoping that Lauren will bring me back an "I heart Moldova" shirt. I can't have TOO many "I heart" shirts in my closet...then I would just feel like a traitor. Unfortunately, due to my baggage and wallet limitations, I was unable to go crazy shopping here. I did however find a killer denim acid wash vest that I just love, love, love!! I'll find a way to squeeze it in, somehow. ;)

[Me in front of the Astronomical Clock]

[Random scene in Stare Mesto]

 [The Jewish Quarter - beautiful part of town with lots of history]

This trip has made me feel so very much unlike a backpacker...except for my accommodations and our little foray into a backpacker pub crawl yesterday! Details for those who would like to know more:

Accommodations:
Hostel Týn - amazing location, right beside the Týn Cathedral in Stare Mesto. Pretty bare bones accommodations though - extremely clean but really no luxuries. In fact, we only had hot water 50% of the time! Would I recommend it? For the location and the price, yes! However would not stay here if I ever came back, mostly because I feel like I have done the "backpacker" living much too much in my life and am ready for the luxuries of an actual hotel room with hot water on demand!

Nightlife:
Lauren and I tried to do the "local" thing on Friday night and wandered around Old Town area stepping in and out of lounges. Great music, but we decided to try to meet some English speaking people last night by joining the pub crawl that meets at the Astronomical Clock tower. Average age: 19. Average product mix: mostly female. Needless to say, we met more people walking around outside! Good line-up of lounges though, but probably would not recommend it as we have just become to old for these things (unfortunately...sniff). Places that I have heard about that are good: Karlovy Lazne (5 story club on eastside of Karlov Most - good club but lots of tourists), Lavka (next to Karlovy Lazne), Duplex (Wenceslas Sq - heard this place is quite good), & Roxy (live band type stuff).

[Lauren and I, getting our backpacker swag on]

Well I'm off tomorrow morning and beginning my long journey to Irkutsk. Flights: Prague to Munich, Munich to London, London to Moscow, Moscow to Irkutsk...I know, going west again before I go east - don't ask! I will get into Irkutsk on Tuesday afternoon.  For my mother - Happy Mothers Day!!! Love you and miss you lots, don't worry I am safe and I'm not taking candy from strangers. To the other best mother I know - Appa! Miss you lots and hope you had an amazing day!

Time to catch some zzz's before this crazy flight schedule! xox!

Bohemian Rhapsody

Prague's got style. Seriously. If Prague were a woman, she would be a timeless yet eclectic beauty...almost an enigma, if you will. Her cobblestone streets are lined with art galleries, cute little patios, and wonderful architecture. Everywhere you look is a beautiful scene that you just feel like painting!

My hostel is on a cute little street called Tynksa, right beside the Tyn Cathedral. I started off my day alone yesterday, and found tons of stuff to do by just letting the city be my guide. First I discovered a funky little vegan Indian resto near my hostel - Beas Vegetarianaska Dhaba. This place had an assortment of vegetarian Indian choices that you pile into a thaali and pay based on weight. Nothing better to beat jetlag than a wholesome Indian meal! Not to mention they had the most amazing ginger, orange, lemon and mint tea...on the house! This place was so cool it even had baby blue toilet paper. :)

[view of my thaali]

Then I wandered around Stare Mesto [Old Town Square] and soaked in the sites and sounds of the city.  I perused through a random Czech book store, admired the wares of a blown glass shop, wandered up alley ways full of art, and of course checked out the famous bohemian crystal shops. I ended up in a concert at the Church of St. Nicolas listening to the Prague Mozart Trio. It was a ton of fun however I have to say that the beautiful music was lulling me to sleep as I was trying to fight my jetlag (I had been up for 30 hours by that point). It's a good thing the church was so cold or I would have really fallen asleep! I needed a little pick-me-up after that was done, and found the best pastry ever! Everyone must try a Trdelnik - a crispy but soft structured hollow roll full of vanilla, almond, cinnamon and sugar. Oh so good! The Trdelnik gave me the energy to find a shopping area (surprise, surprise) with a bunch of cool stores. Lots of great style, but seeing as how my suitcase is already overweight I don't think I will be doing much shopping on this leg of my trip!

[Yum best pastry thingy ever!]

Lauren got to town in the middle of the night yesterday so it was nice to have some company today. We started off the day by meeting up with my friend Danijela's cousin, a local named Zlatko (thanks for the intro, D!) at the Astronomical Clock. He gave us a great tour of the city - we saw Nove Mesto (New Town), Vaclav Namesti (Wencelas Square), and the beautiful Karlov Most (Charles Bridge). Karlov Most is lined with little booths of trinkets and paintings, and has the most beautiful views of the city. The other side of the bridge is known as Malostranksa (I think - will confirm) and it literally feels like you are walking down a movie set. Everything looks so old and perfect - hard to explain and pictures don't do this city justice! We stopped for lunch at the cutest little shop that is owned by Danijela's uncle, Cafe Il Balcone. Zlatko gave us great ideas of places to go - always nice to have local advice!

[Caprese - tomato & buffalo mozzarella...what else do you need in life?!?]

[Lauren, Zlatko & I at Danijela's uncle's cafe]

[Cafe Il Balcone]

[Artist on Charles Bridge]

[Love the cello]

After bidding farewell to our new friend, Lauren and I trekked up to the Prague Hrad (Prague Castle). We stopped at random puppet stores and did the tourist thing...purchasing random trinkets along the way. We didn't make it all the way there though because we found a little restaurant overlooking the city on our way. One glass turned into a meal of Goulash (must try!), turned into glasses of bubbly, turned into 3 hours of great conversation while admiring the scenery! The warm pinks and burnished amber of the buildings looked absolutely divine when splices of sun would shoot through the clouds.

[One of the many random puppet shops in Prague]

[Amazing meal near the Prague Castle]

[Nothing better than bubbly!]

Came home to rest and blog until we head out tonight to check out Prague night life. Loving my new mini computer - perfect size for travel blogging this whole adventure!!! Ciao ciao!

Packing Dilemmas....

I finally got my passport back with a shiny red Russian Federation visa posted in one of the pages!  Thankfully everything was completed in time...now I just have to figure out how to pack like a minimalist...and minimalist is NOT my middle name.  I have to pack for site-seeing in Praha, teaching in Irkutsk, lounging out on very long plane rides...3 weeks in one suitcase, weighing less than 20 kg.  Not my forte to say the least!  I think back and still don't understand how I was able to pack ONE suitcase for the 6 months that I lived in Australia!  Or ONE backpack for 8 weeks of backpacking! I just went and bought a pile of "travel" size products...and of course did some calculations on how long my contact solution would last based on the exact amount that I use on a regular basis (~ 6mL/day...ya I'm a nerd).  Here's hoping I can channel my inner backpacker so that I can pack light but still travel in style!

Excuse me, ma'am, what is the status of your Visa?

Hmm…not quite sure!! We have been facing so many roadblocks this past couple of weeks that I am not even sure if I will be embarking on the adventure as scheduled….9 days from now!

This is the usual process flow:

Receive Letter of Invitation from Host University ---> Send to Russian Consulate --> Get Visa in passport --> Start LEADER adventure

However, everything that could go wrong in this process, has! Murphy's Law I guess.

Our Letters of Invitation (LOI) were sent for the wrong day (meaning we had to reschedule our flights so that we would be entering Russia on a later date than originally planned) and then we found out that we need to get certain blood tests because they sent us a different class of LOI then they usually do! This puts us in a very tight time frame…as the tests generally take 2 weeks to get back…and I am leaving in 9 days.

Silver lining:

Since I couldn’t go to Moscow as originally scheduled, I have re-routed to spend some time in Prague….which I am VERY excited about. Prague has been the political, cultural, and economic center of the Czech Republic for more than 1100 years and is situated on the Vltava River in central Bohemia. Castles, architecture, crystal, oh my! I am staying in Old Town (Staré Město) and cannot wait to check out the spired towers of Týn Cathedral.



That is, of course, if I can get my Visa in time to make my flight! These types of roadblocks teach me a very important lesson - there is no point in stressing out when it comes to travel plans. Life flows on and, as my dad always says, everything will work itself out. You have to go with the flow and hope that life is unravelling as it should...

Ya ni gavaryu pa ruski

Я не говорю по-русски

Translation: "I don't speak Russian"…yet. But I hope to change that soon! It started with an impromptu lesson from a classmate on key conversational phrases like "Hello, how are you doing?" (Pree-v'eht, kahk dee-lah?), but now it's time to ramp things up! I have been meaning to pick up some books on Russia from Chapters, and finally had a chance peruse through the aisles today.

I decided to pick up "Russian Phrases for Dummies", and I'm going to somehow try to fit reading this into a crazy semester full of stacks of cases. The first line in the intro of this book is: "Speaking more than one language is like living more than one life, one of the ancient philosophers said". I would tend to agree. Picking up this book also made me realize that I still need to learn Italian, French and Japanese. Ah well, I guess I have lots of time for that…

As for LEADER updates, we just had a training session that started bright and (too) early this morning. Our "Super Saturday" training sessions generally consist of each site group teaching a case to the rest of the LEADERites. Cases include examples of foundational practices that are important when starting up a new business, with topics such as effectuation, bootstrapping, developing effective marketing plans, and understanding financial statements. The purpose of these sessions is two-fold: to ensure that we learn the content that we will be teaching, and also practice teaching through the case method.

Just as the case method of learning is different from lecture based learning, the case method of teaching is so very different from lecture-based teaching! Now I have to preface this by saying that I have had about 6 years of experience teaching community youth (junior high and high school students) topics of ethics, leadership, international development, history, and art….but this is completely different. The case method of teaching is as dynamic as the case method of learning, and completely unpredictable! It really gives me a new appreciation for my professors at Ivey that have mastered this method of digging deep and creating a safe forum to explore your decision making capabilities and insights, while thinking on your feet when your choices are challenged by others.

Another great thing about teaching before we go is that we can identify certain habits that we must minimize to be able to teach effectively in another country. For example, it is important to avoid the use of common North American colloquialisms that are second nature to us but will not be understood by the students we are teaching. Also, writing on the board usually feels so safe, but some of the sites don’t have boards, and some of the students can't read English! These are certain subtleties that are hard to capture if we don’t have constructive sessions where we really understand the cultural diversity that we will be plunging into.

Something that I am personally really excited about is teaching with a Russian translator. Some of my classes at Baikal National University will be completely taught with a translator…which adds a whole new level of complexity to the mix! Trying to instigate a dynamic and exciting forum for conversation and learning when students don't understand a word you are saying will be interesting to say the least!

We are still undergoing massive fundraising efforts to be able to raise the $60,000 needed for the trip and are throwing a LEADER event at Century Room in Toronto this Friday, March 26th. Click here to donate to LEADER (be sure to indicate that it should be directed to the LEADER project). To purchase a ticket to the event, please click below!

Do svidaniya [Till the next meeting]!

I'm going to Siberia!!

Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that I would be going to Siberia. That sounds as far fetched as saying that I will be taking a nice little vacation to Timbuktu! But it is now a reality, and I am in semi-shock knowing that I will really be able to see a place that I thought I could only visit through books about eternal exile to frozen tundra and prison camps!

Why am I going to Siberia, you may ask? I am participating in a student run overseas economic development program that was founded in 1991 by MBA students at Ivey called LEADER [read more here]. LEADER stands for "Leading Education and Development in Eastern Europe and Russia" and its mandate is to teach modern business skills to students and entrepreneurs in the newly developing economies of Eastern Europe and Russia. Each year, a group of Ivey students go to a number of sites to teach foundational business decision making and entrepreneurial skills through the case method of teaching prevalent at Ivey. This year, the sites include:

• Irkutsk, Russia
• Togliatti, Russia
• Nizhny-Tagil, Russia
• Yekaterinburg, Russia
• Chisinau, Moldova
• Skopje, Macedonia, &
• DP, Ukraine

I will be heading to Irkutsk, which is one of the largest cities in Siberia and about 5000 km from Moscow. Below is a map of Irkutsk's location in relation to the rest of Russia.

You may recognize its name from the board game RISK! In the early 19th century, many officers, artists and nobles were sent into exile to Siberia for their participation in the Decembrist revolt against the Tsar. According to wikepedia (gotta love it), much of the city's cultural heritage comes from these individuals, as Irkutsk became the center of intellectual work and social life for these exiles. In the early 1900's, it was even known as the "The Paris of Siberia"! Quite fitting for me, non? I will let you know if this holds true in May 2010! Da!

Wanderlust Incarnate

Came across an inspiring poem that a friend wrote and absolutely loved it...just thought I'd share...

Ars Musica - by Rehana Rajabali (read more of her work here)

Butterflies for the bittersweet sound of a Taraab melody
A reminder of a past life?
Once a bride in Stone Town...
Hidaya she sings, spurring a familiar longing, as if I understood the essence of her words
My mind cannot translate
My heart need not translate

I have been a lovesick teenager in Tehran,
A criminal in Mumbai
A vagabond in Spain
I have had a thousand lovers, a hundred heartbreaks, a dozen soulmates
The face that replies from the mirror is a function of what resonates in my ear

The Khyber Pass was my first journey
Today, the Andean breeze passes through my fingers
I am well travelled indeed.

Toronto through a Calgarian’s [big] Eyes

[casa loma at sunset]

My last post was a tad melancholy, oh-so-nostalgic and incredibly emo as I was reminiscing about packing up my childhood in 19 UHAUL boxes and starting a new chapter in my life. But now that I am on the brink of a new move to London for B-School [London Ontario that is, although England would sound more exotic and fitting for a “travel blog” post!], I thought I would write a bit about my adventures in Toronto thus far.

For the past year, I’ve had tons of people (from all over) ask me how I’m liking Toronto, advice on moving out of Calgary, etc….so I thought I would write a bit about what I’ve LOVED about living in Toronto this past year, and some things that I have not so loved….which are few and far between. I have really taken the time to try and explore this city, but the funny thing is that there is still so much more to do and see…Toronto is so dynamic and alive, and in such stark contrast with Calgary, a place I hold near and dear to my heart. So here I go…and in an effort to keep this list under control, I am organizing by category [surprise, surprise].

What I love about Toronto:
1) Fashion
• Toronto shopping is a constant battle for me…it’s always a Reccesionista versus Fashionista showdown. There are so many shoe stores and so many sales and I heart it!! Hurts my bank account but nothing can replace the feeling I get when I find that special something I’ve been waiting for all my life and just didn’t realize….erm, ya, that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it!!!
• I love shopping on Queen Street in my wayfarers…hehe. So much fun boutique fashion…and so unique. Toronto really lets you embrace your personal style…kind of like Tokyo but not so extreme. But you could be extreme if you wanted to be…which is nice!
• Fashion Week is full of fun events and fashion shows – a definite must do if you are into that type of stuff.
• Nothing beats walking down Bloor Street on my Fridays off while sippin’ on Starbucks latte…the people here are next level rich and sometimes I just sit and people watch to see how one can afford to buy such extravagant stuff! Exhibit A: There is regularly a waiting list at Tiffany’s to speak to a sales associate! To SPEAK to a sales associate!! Recession?! What recession? The uber rich here are supercalafragilistic rich. Its depressing and amusing at the same time!

2) Culture
• If you don’t like a radio station…you have about a bazillion other choices. This really, really comes in handy when you are stuck in traffic due to a protest or something on a Sunday night at 11:00 trying to get home (I speak from experience).
• The throngs of people on the street! Calgary is a ghost town in downtown after 6:00 pm….while downtown Toronto dynamically comes alive. Patios, festivals, free shows…its amazing. Just this past weekend Cirque du Soleil did a free show at Harbour Front – for…free!
• You can go to an obscure club on a Wednesday night and have amazing music…that’s just how it is here. And it doesn’t matter whether you like hardcore reggae or acid rock….you can find a place that suits your fancy.
• Breakdancers in Dundas Square and street buskers in general! So fun to watch!
• The different pockets of culture…Portuguese town, artsy fartsy scene in Kensington market, coffee houses, poetry readings…you can be anything you want to be and embrace it with all you have. I was once walking down Queen with some girlfriends and one stepped into a music store and bought a guitar b/c its something she wanted to do for a while and didn’t have the chance…these are the best moments because it shows how the city just inspires you to explore your inner talents that have yet to be realized.
• Not enough culture for you? Tdot is a hop skip & jump from Montreal…which needs it's own list all together

3) Food
• So much food, amazing food, everywhere! At any time! At any price! 10:00 on a Tuesday night and craving Burmese food?? You can get it! Sushi is cheap, Thai is cheap, and the restos are guaranteed to be packed :)
• Not only is the street meat halal and amazing, but now you can get street vended ethnic food!
• Italian food in Little Italy (College) – mama mia, it’s amazing! (Try Vivoli, Coco Lezzone, the crepe place, Kalender, and Pomogranate Restaurant!)
• The Greek food on Danforth, especially during the annual Greek Festival
• Lahore Tikka House on Gerrard Street (Little India) – even though it has been under renos since ’05…the kebabs are amazing!!
• Finding random pizzerias…just went to an amazing place called Pizzeria Libretto on Ossington/Dundas and had a Duck Confit and Pear pizza cooked in a wood fired oven – it’s a must do for “authentic” Neapolitan pizza!
• The plethora of restos on King – jazz bars, wine bars, fusion restaurants, etc.

4) Weather
• We have 4 actual seasons here! I know this may sound odd to non-Calgarians, but this is important to note because Calgary has only 2 seasons…..Snowy and Rainy Season, and Stampede Season which is the hottest week of the year [30 C] when everyone parties and gets heat stroke…then we are back to Snowy and Rainy Season. It's not at all consistent! I do miss Chinooks…but the predictability of the weather in Toronto is well worth it. If it says its going to rain…it rains! If it says its going to snow, it snows! Its amazing!
• From November to February we have Winter. It snows like crazy, snow tires help. But then its OVER!!
• From March to mid June, we have Spring, where it rains. Rubber boots help, especially funky colourful ones.
• From mid June to September, we have Summer, beautiful wonderful summer, full of heat, tanning, beaches, patios, bonfires, bbq’s and sundresses. It’s absolutely divine!
• From Sept to November, we have Autumn…crisp, cool, crunchy, colourful Autumn. Far cry from the resilient ever-greens in Calgary that stay…ever green no matter what is on the ground.

5) Misc.
• Driving on the 407 – wide open spaces! Love it!
• Driving to and from downtown through Rosedale Valley Road…such a relaxing way to get into the core…its usually the stretch when I blast my music and sing my heart out! In the winter it looks like a curving sparkly winter wonderland, and in the summer like you are driving through a lush green forest.
• The anonymity of a big city…no one cares what car you drive or what purse you buy, no ones in your business. Speaking of purses, I love the smorgasbord of purse choices in the city!! But maybe that should go in another category…
• Beaches! Coming from Calgary, and trips to “Fish Creek Park” as the closest thing to a beach, it was such a foreign concept to have beautiful beaches on the lakes so close!
• I love that I have the ability to escape the concrete jungle of downtown to suburbia at least one day a weekend…to have a hearty indian meal, play some golf, spend 2 hours washing/waxing/leather conditioning my car…its great :)

What I do not love about Toronto:
• Paying for the 407 – it’s a toll highway and I use it too much. Eek!
• Road kill on the DVP – so much roadkill on my morning drives that I started naming the racoons that I see every morning and count how many days they’ve been there! [Roxy has currently been lying at DVP & Wynford drive for 3 days]
• For those of you that like the mountains…Toronto is a sad sad excuse for mountains. They have “Blue Mountain”, but its basically like Nose Hill, and probably smaller.
• Rush hour sucks, not gonna lie. But the solution is….live near your work! Your quality of life will vastly improve…so pay the premium to keep your commuting time low…you are in control! I go against traffic every morning so I don’t have a bad commute at all…so it is possible to work around it.
• It takes me a long time to straighten my hair with the humidity with this new godforsaken hair cut I chose to get in the efforts to feel more “edgy”. But when I return to my curly hair the humidity works in favour of my hair, nails, and skin! So it’s a pro and a con :)

All in all Toronto is a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book…and God knows, I loved those growing up! So that is my list, and I hope it helps anyone who is considering a move to Toronto! Ciao ciao!

The mad chaos of a random urban metropolis

I was driving down the DVP at sunset today, between Donmills and Bayview/Bloor, and was hit with an overwhelming wave of nostalgia. I wasn't sure at first precisely what it was that reminded me of a splice of home...was it the sunset? No, it was definitely a different type of sunset than Calgary...it was a muggy sunset, not a cold, crisp, cotton candy sunset. It wasn't the landscape either...I was surrounded by lush green trees on either side, going 120 [which by the way is way faster than I ever drove in Calgary]. Could it be the music, I thought, as I opened up my sunroof and sang my heart out to PM Dawn [Set Adrift on Memory Bliss]?


Then it hit me...it felt akin to the curves of 14th Street in Calgary, all those times when I was on my way home with Nosehill on my left and the city on my right. I used to love reaching that stretch of road -- when my phone would lose reception for a bit, and i could see the bright moon against the velvet sky, with the city lights glittering in the distance, and the stars poking holes up above. How I loved to reflect...with no one on the road but me, coming home from somewhere or the other, following the twists and curves and singing my heart out to songs especially made for whatever mood the moon put me in that day.

So I've moved to Toronto...and I had various requests to blog my move...but every time i tried to write about it I came up with nothing to say. I've been here for 4 months now and that first pang of nostalgia made me realize that...wow, i miss home sometimes! I wasn't sure when I'd feel inspired to write, but I guess the time is now. Moving was surreal. I guess I'll start from where I left off in my last post. Living in Calgary for 8 months after Europe was daunting at first, given the circumstances. But I needed to touch base. I needed to feel the comforts of home to realize I had outgrown the city.

I made new friends, reconnected with past companions, closed old chapters. I heard it everywhere - "I want to move, I want to get out of Calgary, I want to live somewhere else". I became one of those voices in the crowd....but something was different, my resolve changed. And before I knew it, opportunity struck. Like my favorite quote in The Alchemist - " When you want something bad enough, the universe conspires to help you acheive it". I packed up my childhood in 19 UHaul boxes, with a neatly catagorized Excel spreadsheet detailing my packing strategy to boot. My feet on the ground, my eyes wet, my heart anxious, my mind eerily calm. It was hard, it was easy. I was never good at goodbyes.

And then life spun around! For the first couple of months I was living in a hotel in the heart of the city, eating at random cafes and swanky restaurants alike, soaking in the sun and the patios and street buskers and festivals. One day I caught a random concert at Dundas Square, it was 70's theme and "Got to be Real" [Cheryl Lynn] was blasting...I was so happy to be right where I was that very moment that I almost cried.

This city is exhausting, but also exhilarating. There is so much to do and see, and so many people walking around at all hours of the day! I have explored Danforth (the greek area), frequented most of the restuarants and cafes in Little Italy, and of course eaten pani puri and masala dosaa in the colorful stink of Gerrard. I love the pretentiousness of Bloor Street and frequently dream of owning a downtown condo while sipping on a Starbucks honey latte. Yesterday i went to the beaches area and I could have sworn the air felt salty, like i was somewhere else, somewhere far away and not by any means at Lake Ontario. There is always something going on, always good music, great fashion, awesome shopping, and so so many different types of people! Sometimes i really feel like a farm girl when I hear people talking in Jamaican accents because I really thought that only happened in music videos!!

But everything aside, home is home. I miss those warm summer nights in Calgary, the berries on the trees in my cul-de-sac, the dry heat and the yellow wheat set against the azure sky. The mountains, the glittery cold, the crisp fall, the xmas lights in the mall. My mailbox, the rabbits in my yard, the bike path....ah, the familiar haunts of home. But i'm ready...to embrace it here. This city has so much to offer, not to mention i have a castle at my doorstep. It is exciting and scary at the same time, I did it - I moved, and a part of me wants to pinch myself because I dont know if this actually happened or if I am just dreaming this in my leopard bed with my pink carpet and my artwork strewn all over the wall. Somewhere along the way I think I grew up...not that i'll ever grow out of leopard print....but at least i don't consider it appropriate bedroom linen anymore. Yes sir, i've grown up and out of leopard print sheets and into high thread count egyptian cotton....when did this happen!?!

So that is my account of moving to Toronto...who knows what the future holds. I'll finish off here with a quote:

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” - Mark Twain

I heart Cherry Blossoms (Vancouver BC)

It had been nearly a decade since I last visited Vancouver BC, so I thought it would be the right time to visit my bestie in Van before my move to Toronto.



Watching the Rockies from the plane was exhilerating...I had forgotten their vast glittering dominance of the landscape. Stepping into Van was incredible. The air felt so crisp and fresh....just breathing it felt wonderful! You will have to experience this phenomenon for yourself but it was truely amazing. Also, there were cherry blossom trees everywhere you looked! I loved it!


We had such a wonderful weekend...we went to some amazing restos for good seafood and vino and laughter and great conversation. On Saturday we rented a boat from Granville island and explored....it was a hilarious experience!!! We were scared but excited and went against everyone's better judgement! We of course had to request a map on the boat...we would like to consider ourselves adventure seekers but still need some direction. After boating, we spent time in a market in granville island...one of those lazy coffee and converstation days. Below are some pics!

I'll take you to the Candy Shoppe... (Banff AB)

[Main Street Banff]

My most favorite thing to do in Banff? Visit the Candy Shoppe and eat yummy home made fudge and other colorful confectionery!

Banff holds such a "deer" place in my heart. I go to Banff a couple of times a year, and have been going ever since I was young...it is only about an hour and a half outside of Calgary. I recently returned from Banff after a trip with some good friends, and it renewed my love for this little town.

I feel like I take Banff for granted sometimes....I have mountains at my doorstep! Only in Banff will you see mountain goat and deer walking along beside you....amidst the stunning backdrop of the Canadian Rockies. The gondola rides are a must, and if you are feeling adventurous you can actually trek up a mountain and then take a gondola back down. I highly recommend! Also, bring a frisbee and spend some time in the park.

Tunnel mountain is a must see, and if you can, head to Radium for some hot springs. If you want the hotsprings experience without the actual hotsprings, go to Banff Springs hotel and get a pass to their pool for a day (about $12.00 to $15.00 but well worth it). They have a beautiful out door heated pool that is especially divine when its cold outside. I say this because the actual Banff Hotsprings don't always have real hotsprings water and can sometimes be full of kids etc. Banff Springs hotel give you the same experience but is much more peaceful and relaxing.

Trail riding in Banff near Banff Springs hotel is an unforgettable experience. Also, if you feel like splurging, the spa in Banff springs hotel is AMAZING with a Hungarian mineral bath pool. If you need something else to do, its always fun to peruse along the main strip in banff and take a look around in the little niche shops. Below are some pics!

Trail riding in Banff

Love the horsies!

Welch's Old Fashioned Candy Shoppe


Random Mountain Goat (i think thats what they are)



A lovely trek




Deer on the main road

View of the gondola system

View from the top!

Gypsy No More

[Calgary Alberta: Home]

It's so comforting to come back from traveling and have a double-cupped Timmys (why don't they just get sleeves??) whilst watching a Canada flag flap in the air. I've been home for a month now...and wow what a run that was. The past 2 years have been absolute madness...before Feb 06, I saw nothing more than my backyard (yes, Mexico and the US are considered Nosehill Park in my books). And now, 15 countries later, I feel like there is still so much more to see! Life is so much bigger than just the warm Chinooks of Calgary -- and I feel so fortunate that I was able to do the traveling that I did. Now back to my prairies, back to my mountains, back to the beloved efficiency of this place we call home. I love the Alberta beef, I love the courteous drivers, and I love the signs that make sense. I hate the bloody weather, I hate the cracked windshields, and I can't stand how most of us don't take time to enjoy the simple things - so caught up in the North American mentality of materialism and following a "prescribed set of steps to success". I'm not saying i'm innocent (far from it)...i'm just saying that traveling really makes you reevaluate what is important in life. In the end, its the laughter, the people and the memories that you will be holding on to. I will miss random slang, I will miss good coffee, I will miss good cheese!!

Gone are 5 years of nomadic life - ripping away from everything I know, four months at a time. Am i ready for stability? Time will tell. There is still so much more to see...but i take solace in the fact that home will always be here. Underneath it all, i'll always be a prairie girl -- boot scoot and boogying my way through life with a sprig of wheat in my hair and imaginary cowboy boots on my french pedicured feet.

So to my friends that have followed me through my travels with my blog musings -- don't let the mundane comfort of home let you get complacent and stop you from following your dreams! You want to sip Moet on a beach in Monaco? Meet a handsome millionaire with a yacht in Sydney? Build mud huts in the Amazon and live life barefoot? Explore the mad chaos of a random urban metropolis? Or just make a complete career change and never see a TPS report again? Yeehaw my friends and Carpe Diem!

[at the Pearson Airport sippin on Timmys]

The Cyclades

A little geography lesson...the Cyclades (ky-clod-ees) are islands to the SE of Greece mainland in the Aegean Sea. They have been absolutely beautiful...but not what I imagined. I imagined lush vegetation coconut trees and passion fruit in plenty. The islands are actually quite dry with very little vegetation. When you get off of the ferry at any of these islands and see dry dry rock...you can't help but wonder..."where the hell am i?!"


Ios has the reputation of being a party island...and it lived up to it. It is basically like the "Cancun" of Europe...tons of ppl come for the beach in the day time (the best place to go is Far Out Beach Hostel for cold drinks and loud [trance] music) and people don't start going to the "discos" until 1:00...Greek Style. Ios is so very picturesque...very much what you see in paintings and postcards...so blue and white against the backdrop of the Mediterranean. We stayed at Franchescos - which is an ABSOLUTE MUST!! But make reservations early...we tried 3 months in advance and it was tight...but well worth it, they treat you like family. Each night there are tons of creperies and bars along the strip playing a variety of [not so great for us] music.

After Ios, we took a ferry into Thira, which is also more well known as Santorini. It wasn't as blue and white as i imagined and definitely not as blue and white as Ios! Thira is very much for romantic couples..and it did live up to its rep We stayed near Parissa - the black beach made of volcanic ash. The first night we went to the northern tip of Thira - Oia, to see the sunset over the water - i have never seen such a fluorescent pink sun! The next day we went on an excursion to Nia Kamini - an active volcano in the middle of the group of islands. We climbed up the black volcano in the scorching heat and peered into the crater -- we could actually see the smoke rising out of it and smell the pungency of the sulpher. Then we swam in some natural hot springs - they were bright red and filled with sediments and "healing" mud - very odd how the water changed from aqua to a bring bubbling red. Then we sailed to Tharissa and had an amazing Greek lunch, and after that we went to the town Fira - absolutely breathtaking views.

Then we got into Mykonos which was nice but a bit too commercialized - it was beautiful and windy and super expensive! We stayed near Paradise beach and had some major monstrosities of mutant bugs in our room that we had to exterminate...not fun!

Can't believe we are back to Canadia so soon!

It's all Greek to me!

So we got into Athens yesterday after a 2 hour flight delay....its so crazy to see the signs here...i know a lot of the greek letters from years and years of ODE's and PDE's (ordinary/partial differential equations) but to string them together with sound is just something else!

After we got in we met up with a "local" (she's from Canada, born in Greece, and spends all her summers here) and we went to a really hype place called Verde...it was like an out door lounge/patio and it was absolutely beautiful. It was, as usual, awesome to be hanging out with locals...you get more of a feel of their culture. So far all i've seen is that everyone is SO in love! People will know eachother for 3 days and act like they've been together for years. The PDA's are a far cry from what is acceptable in North America, but it is still quite cute although almost a bit on the annoying side :) Also, for a tuesday night the place was packed! But its been like this all over Europe...people just enjoy life more generally...they may have to wake up early for work but that doesnt mean that they dont enjoy drinks or dinner with friends every night. Its a great philosophy...really makes you wonder why our culture in North America forces us to work so hard.

Today we did the regular tourist thing...shopped at ZARA. haha well i guess thats all we do, in EVERY country. ZARA, Mango, shoe stores, etc. Its so sad. We are soooo not made for backpacking! We have a backpacking facade but when you zip open our stuffed full bags you will find stillettos, designer purses, and apricot face scrub. Anyways after some much needed air conditioning and our bellies full of an amazing Greek feast (i thought mozzarella and tomatoes were good but Feta and tomatos?? absolutely divine!) we trekked in the 46 degree heat to the Acropolis and saw the ancient ruins. Our last sight-seeing stint...yayy!! Now we are just going to relax on the Cyclades islands -- Ios, Santorini and Mykonos.

We all can't believe its been 5 weeks of travelling! It feels like only yesterday we were looking at London Bridge!!

Yassus (goodbye) till tomorrow!

When in Rome...

Eat butter chicken!! After a breakfast of pizza and a lunch of pizza, yesterday we decided to hit up the only thing open on a Sunday night....Indian food! With burfi for dessert of course!


Roma has been a pleasant surprise...really awesome site seeing. Yesterday we went to see the Pantheon, which was actually really nice and different then most cathedrals we have seen. It had some neat engineering aspects to it as well....the mammoth dome was built with decreasing density as the top of the dome was approached to prevent the dome from caving in and it was all done without scaffolding! Definitely an engineering feat in its symmetry and structural integrity.


After the Pantheon, we saw the Spanish Steps and drank from Trevy fountain....the heat is insane here!! Then we went to the Colliseum, which was huge and really cool to see. Probably the first set of ruins ive ever seen. After the Colliseum we walked through the Palentine Hills and saw the Roman Forum...where Rome began. The Roma Pass is a very cost effective way of travelling around, including free admissions and 3 days of metro...highly recommended.

This morning we got to the Vatican....the smallest city in the world. They are not lying when they say that the lineups are huge!! It was probably a 5 hour line! We chose to pay 2.2 times more the price of the ticket to bypass line and get a 3 hour tour of the Vatican Museum, the Sistine Chapel, and St Peters Basillica. The artwork was absolutely incredible and the Michaelangelo frescos on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel were amazing. The sculptures and the mosaics were beautiful...all in all what a wonderful and priceless collection of art.

[Sistine Chapel ceiling - highly classified picture taken incognito]

Tonight we have decided to stuff ourself with our last truely italian meal...and and by the way all the pasta here is cooked a little less than we actually cook it at home....so all that time i was actually doing it right....hee hee. Tomorrow we leave for Athens!

Ciao Italia!

[my backpack with all of my country patches sewn on]